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record of the state of parties and opinion at the time when they were made; however faithful and just, they cast no spell over the encroachments of time and the laws of political gravitation. The real constitution of a free country is continually changing under the hand of parties formed upon the questions in which its life is concentrated, and whose solution determines its character and progress. Dead forms of government will not long resist the living spirit of the parties into whose power it falls to administer them; and to correct the spirit of parties, it is necessary to arouse these feelings in the bosom of the people against which its predominant influence is arrayed, and which it has already lulled to sleep. They are the original sources of that virtue, which, according to Montesquieu, is the condition of republican constitutions, and the parties are the conduits by which it is conducted to the gushing fountain of government. Office-seeking represents, in public affairs, a sphere into which ought not to be allowed to enter that pursuit of private interest which has been fostered among us by the circumstances of a new country, and which, among private citizens, is justifiable and conducive to the public good. But the best system for the management of our own concerns, where the object is our own advantage, is not applicable to affairs of honor and trust, when we are called to look after the interests of others. Although the evil is already great, we do not despair; for if it were ten times greater, we know that there is a principle in the human heart which, once brought into exercise, is able to overthrow it.

Good government is not to be expected unless it is established on good principles. The principle on which this system relies, and the only one it admits, and which, we are sorry to say, is the only one not often appealed to in our current political philosophies, is that of fear, disguised under the name of responsibility. But responsibility is a virtue in governments which fails exactly when there is most need of it; it punishes the peccadilloes of weakness, but is only an empty sound when directed against the abuses of power. Besides, although extremely useful among the minor motives, it is incompetent to awaken profound emotions or ideas, or to excite those great resolutions or actions, on which the fate of nations

sometimes depends, and whose effect endures for ages. Excellent as a regulator, it is good for nothing as a motive power. It suffices for the routine of administration, and for dependent minds.

But what we require is a principle to be present with the greatest characters, in the moment of high resolve, to enkindle all their faculties, to animate them to lay out all their strength for the common good, and, descending from them, to propel the whole machinery of government. Such a principle is the principle of honor. It coöperates with all minor safeguards; and, continuing its influence beyond the point where they cease to operate on the will, it is equal to all the exigencies of good government. The essence of government is a distinction between men; some govern and some are governed. The attribute of government is by nature an honorable distinction. To the meanest of men is given a power over the most exalted, which may be quickened into the supreme motive, because, in giving or withholding his approval or applause, he gives or withholds one of the keenest sensations of which we are capable. With a fair field of display, the love of honor is at the same time the strongest in the individual, and the most universal with the mass, of human motives. No demand is too great for its resources, particularly when it appears on the public stage of government. It can make the extremest effort the rule, and the greatest sacrifices courted. Properly touched, it is the only chord that ever need be touched in order to build up the strongest of all governments - that in which the numbers are impelled to their duty by the strongest incentive. The danger is not the lack, but the excess, of strength in its operation;, the point of honor is always unmanageable. Associated with any employment, men will always be found to spend or lose their lives, and every thing that is dear to them, in its pursuit. For its sake, armies are proud of slavery, and hunt after death in a thousand forms. The elevation it inspires, raising those who are possessed with the sentiment above the ordinary level of humanity, is the chief cause which gathers power into the hands of the few; and no government can exist if it has against it the full strength of a sentiment which has overturned, and can over

turn, all opposition. We have only to enlist it in the service of a government whose object is not the supremacy of a class, but the good of the whole, and the problem of politics is solved. A government is formed which can be no further perfected.

It is useless to say that this is not the highest class of motives which can be applied to the conduct of public affairs, or which mankind can be brought to. The highest motives of our nature do not belong to politics, but to morals and religion. We now speak of the motives which have their particular place in government, and which make men active and self-denying in the things of this world. It is necessary that government should be powerful, and honor is a principal element of power. And when provision is made for the maintenance of honor, all the other blessings of government flow naturally forth from this reservoir. Wherever there are gradations of rank, if promotion is to be had by merit, merit will be sure to be forthcoming. But wherever the process is inverted, and men attempt to found government upon merit in the first place-upon what ought to be, instead of upon what is, upon motives inaccessible to those who are to be acted on by them- the phantom is soon displaced by reality.

It is unnecessary to show that the system we have been commenting on is at variance with the principles of honor. They are different in their origin, their operation, their objects and results. The rise of one is the destruction of the other. Now the love of honor, although capable of becoming the most imperious passion of the soul, is also the most sensitive and delicate, and requires the most tender treatment. The fairest opportunities are necessary for its healthy development, and its noble returns are obtained only at the price of continual encouragement. We are arrived at such a pass that there is no danger of exciting too keen a rivalry of honor, or of applying too powerful a stimulant to our dormant sensibilities. On the contrary, we need to avail ourselves of every resource within our reach to revive that antique spirit which once flourished among us, and shone in the front of our government. Since it is the studied purpose of the policy which we have to contend with, to abuse and degrade these

sentiments in regard to the distribution of public office, we ought to make office a point of honor. And the first thing to be done, to take the office-seeking interest out of the control of the great parties, is to restore universal eligibility to office, and to take efficient care that the liberty which we possess in theory is not lost to us in fact.

It makes no real difference whether the exclusion of a particular class is written in the laws, or impressed upon the ideas and habits of the people; it equally proscribes those against whom it is levelled, and is equally profitable to those who supplant them. Republican equality before the law is flagrantly violated in either case, when both a privileged and an incapable class are created in the name of the people. The offices of government might as well be distributed by lot; they are really so distributed when apportioned according to the favorite rotation of second-rate politicians, to one locality after another, to each person in turn, generally preferring the location to the man, and the fact of success at any time disqualifying the recipient for its continuance. All idea of merit or honor is banished from such an arrangement; and the rapid depreciation of our politics, under its influence, painfully shows that those who possess the one, or are influenced by the other, have been in haste to follow. But, whether in office or out of office, the people have a right to the advantage of the highest attainable capacity; and there cannot be a doubt that the greatest capacity is attracted into office when the most unlimited competition makes its attainment the highest honor. The course open to talent' was the motto under which Napoleon called forth his prodigies. The most astonishing results, in the moral elevation of the French armies, followed the opening of the higher grades for the admission of soldiers from the ranks. The standard of performance is instantly raised as soon as emulation is awakened, and as far as it extends. To hold office by prescription, after it has ceased to be maintained by desert, is evidently contrary to the public interests; but to place one in a worse position for holding office, on account of having once performed its duties, is not only contrary to republican principle, but a wound upon the idea of justice and the sense of honor. Notwithstanding the reproach of ingratitude, addressed to po

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pular governments, the noblest spirits love to trust them and throw themselves into their service. There is no comparison between the honors which flow from royal favor and those which are the gift of a free people, in respect either to the avidity with which they are sought, or the value and extent of the services with which they are gladly purchased. Nothing is wanted to make office attractive, and even more honorable among us, but the liberty of untrammelled appeal to the popular heart, by which conscious greatness trusts to make itself felt, and by whose decision even patriotism is willing to abide. Even for those who obtain the prizes of public life, the flatteries and illusions of hope are as necessary as for their less fortunate competitors; for the disappointments of power are no match for the allurements of ambition.

But however confident and aspiring the pride of individual merit, it withers and retires, as things are now, before the power of organization, even though it is only organized mediocrity. There must be something peculiarly fatal in a system which is throwing the best talent of the country away from the service of the government at a moment when the nation is so rapidly expanding, and the most magnificent field of action in the world is opening before it. Nothing can be so dangerous to the integrity and security of our institutions as to separate the sentiments of the people that love, honor, and reverence which they cannot help feeling for great personal endowments from the administration of the government; and this has been done in many respects besides the one we have been commenting on. It is impossible that so artificial and unnatural a system should endure we certainly think it is not desirable that it should. Character and capacity are not mere illusions; they are a power created by nature herself, whose hold upon the human heart is not to be thrown off by arrangements purely conventional. If deprived of their natu ral place in government, they will find a sphere of action elsewhere. They have already found one in party. Although it has become almost certain, that those who direct the policy of the great parties of the country are to have no immediate part in carrying out their own designs, the posts of command in them are objects of a far more generous and intense ambi

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